The Mayor provides comments and insights on happenings in Midland Ontario.

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Sunday December 11 2016

Ladies and Gentlemen

The snow has arrived and our downtown merchants are starting
to breathe easier. Lots of positive news in our community as we get close to
year end.

·The Guesthouse has the funds needed to
complete its renovation and expects to be in full operation in their new
building by mid-January.Thank you to
everyone who helped make this Christmas wish a reality

·Expect more than 25 cruise ship visits to
Midland in 2017 from 3 different cruise lines. We are fast becoming a tourism “place
to go”.

·Rosewood, our women’s shelter, announced their
new “social enterprise”.The business
involves indoor agriculture, making locally grown garden-fresh produce
available to you 12 months a year. Rosewood has purchased the old LCBO premises
on Queen Street. This new downtown business will provide Rosewood with needed funds
and be a place for shelter clients and staff to safely learn life skills.

And if you want to see where all this is happening check
out the new mapping tool developed by the Town and the County. If you are interested
in finding out what zone you are in and what is permitted in that zone, take a look
at https://maps.simcoe.ca/zoning/?muni=midland.

The
Week Ahead

On Monday December 12thmy day begins with a trip to Queens Park to
meet with Housing Minister Ballard on the topic of affordable housing. The
County’s Affordable Housing Advisory committee has set a new course by redefining
how we build affordable housing and what resources are needed to significantly
improve our ability to house those in need. As an example, the plan requires
each of Simcoe’s 16 municipalities to develop their own affordable housing
target – Midland has a current target of 90 new units. My meeting with the
Minister will be all about maintaining provincial funding for social housing
plus allowing us greater flexibility to use those funds for local housing
needs.

At 6:30 pm, back in Midland, Council will have a closed session
to discuss a personal matter related to the Butter Tart festival.At 7:00 pm there will be a combined General
Committee and Council meeting. The agenda includes:

-Award of Merit presentations to 4 deserving
individuals. (I am sworn not to divulge the names)

-25 Years of Service recognition for:

oChief Osborne, Midland Police Service

oTerry Paquette, Chief Building Official

oPat LeClair, Manager Water-Wastewater
Operations

-Update on our “Second Unit” by-law as it
progresses through County. New provincial laws, especially Bill 7, will likely
require our by-law to be amended

-A draft Traffic Calming discussion document.
This will start our public discussion about what changes we want to see in
Midland to slow traffic down

-Request by the Boathouse Restaurant to lease
a small section of municipal land

Tuesday the 13th at 10:00 am sees a
special meeting at our Library. They are hosting an information session on an
innovative software product designed to help organizations manage their
volunteers.Then at 1:00 pm County Council
holds a special meeting to elect the Warden and Deputy Warden for the next two
year term. Section Chairs and Vice-Chairs will also be decided.

On Wednesday I visit Tay Township at 10:00 am as
part of the County’s program of meeting with municipalities on their individual
affordable housing plans. Midland’s turn comes in January.

Thursday the 15th features the Seniors
Council Christmas lunch at noon at the MCC.Later that day the “Good Lovelies” return to the MCC – unfortunately all
tickets are sold.

At 2:00 pm on Friday the 16th at the MCC, Quest
formally announces that they are receiving a grant for their Canada 150 mural project.
The project will create major murals in each of the four North Simcoe
municipalities.The murals will be
unveiled on July 1, 2017 as part of Canada’s 150th birthday celebrations. Quest
is looking for historical themes to be included in the murals. If you have any ideas,
please forward them to Quest at murals@questart.ca.

.

At 6:00 pm the Penetanguishene Rotary Club’s Festival of
Trees comes to a conclusion with the drawing for the trees at the MCC. Please come
and enjoy the festivities.

Week -
End

Saturday December 17

-10:00 am to 3:00 pm please help our Police
and Fire Departments with a food donation for Cram a Cruiser.They can be found at Canadian Tire,
Superstore, Foodland, Valu-Mart, Wal-Mart and No Frills

-Second City comes to Town with its Christmas
comedy review at the MCC 8:00 pm

Council
Issues Update

GBGH

Lots
of good news for our hospital this week.This past Friday saw the ground breaking for the Emergency Department building
phases 2 and 3. The province has contributed $8.6M to this project. Completion is
expected in early 2018.

The
North Simcoe Muskoka LHIN (aka the province) announced an increase to GBGH’s annual
base budget funding of $961,000.This
will go a long way to resolving our hospital’s annual budget shortfall. Additionally
the North Simcoe Muskoka CCAC received over $3.7M from the province for its
annual base budget.These funds will be
used for improved home services to clients and their caregivers. This new
funding underscores the province’s intention to improve health services to
residents in their own homes.

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Midland Ontario

About Me

I was born in Gander, Newfoundland, and have been privileged to live in many regions of Canada. My career started as an Officer with the Department of National Defense, moved on to senior management in operations with Bank of Montreal, Principal with KPMG and then President of two start-up companies, one in B2B marketing and the other in sports technology.
Since moving to Midland in 2001 I have been involved in the community in many capacities: - Director, Out of the Cold – Chair, Martyrs’ Shrine Board of Trustees - Chair, Huronia Foundation for the Arts – Founder, Zero Waste Simcoe - Chair, St. Margarets Cemetery Board - Founder, Economic Development Association of North Simcoe. My political career started as a municipal Councillor in 2006 and then successive terms as Mayor in 2010 and 2014.
My wife Cathy and I have been married for 43 years and have two adult children. When time permits I pursue personal interests in cosmology, virtual reality development and gardening.